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If you have been using MySQL for a while, you have a knowledge investment that may discourage you from exploring other databases. This short guide shows how common tasks in MySQL are accomplished in PostgreSQL. It also highlights some unique features of each database.

I'm an extremely visual learner. If you introduce yourself to me, chances are that I'll forget your name after a few minutes. If I see your name in print, it's locked in my brain for all time (ok, I'm exaggerating, but not by much). Codin' for the Web (like, Singin' in the Rain) is a very visual book. Peachpit Press seems to specialize in producing their texts using high quality paper, fonts, colors, and images. Even without reading the content, it's just a pleasure to look at the pages. However, without good content, the "eye candy" effect doesn't mean much.

What does an anti-slavery pamphlet, a graph of French losses during Napoleon's invasion of Russia, and a PowerPoint slide presentation have in common? The answer, according to Edward Tufte's latest collection of essays, Beautiful Evidence , is that all of them combine words and graphics to convey information -- although not with the same success. This is a subject with which readers of Tufte's previous books will be already familiar, and some of the essays in the book have been available online in slightly different forms for several years. Yet, for all this familiarity, in Beautiful Evidence, Tufte still manages to offer readers a combination of practical advice and theory in a style that manages to be both leisurely and challenging at the same time.

Open-source software in schools will be the driving force for Gordon Brown’s proposed ‘Knowledge Economy’, it was claimed today. The claim comes from Bluefountain, after massive cross-party backbench support for a change in government policy for IT in education. Nearly one in five backbenchers from all parties questioned the exclusion of open-source software from UK schools.

The development of vital computer systems to be used and maintained for decades in aerospace and automobile construction is preconditioned on development tools the specifications of which elude most classical software products. Therefore a consortium of companies centered on the aircraft manufacturer Airbus has decided to make sure -- by launching a project dubbed TOPCASED (Toolkit in Open source for Critical Applications & Systems Development) -- that it gets its hands on such tools.

We are pleased to announce that the third Beta release of Trustix Secure Linux 3.0.5 is now available. Thanks to many reports and suggestions, this release contains some critical fixes and improvements in the installer and other software.

VectorLinux, a lightweight, fast Linux distribution for the x86 platform, just released its new version 5.8 this week. This user-friendly distribution makes the average computer user's life easy by supplying office software, Web browsing, photo editing, and archiving on top of a fast, clean Xfce window manager.

Virtualisation software specialist VMware has posted a pre-release version of 'Fusion', the Mac version of its desktop virtualisation software. The public availability of the beta release was accompanied by VMware competitor Parallels' posting of a update to its own Mac virtualisation tool.

Red Hat shares jumped more than 12 percent in after-hours trading Thursday after the Linux distributor posted financial results that topped analysts’ estimates. Excluding one-time items, the company posted a profit of $29.6 million, or $0.14 per share, compared to $22.7 million in the year-ago quarter after adjusting for stock compensation and tax expenses. Analysts polled on Thomson Financial estimated the software company would report earnings per share of $0.12 and revenues of $104.16 million versus $73.11 million in the year-ago quarter.

Bitsim is shipping an evaluation and development board that targets 2D graphics-intensive embedded applications, such as instrumentation and gaming devices. The "Badger" board is based on an ARM9 processor and Altera Cyclone II FPGA (field-programmable gate array), and apparently is accelerated by Bitsim's "Badge" softcore processor.

Genealogy is a burgeoning hobby and to help the home genealogist, a whole range of software is available. Much of it is commercial but here I’ll look at one of the most popular free software options—GRAMPS. Charting your family history needn’t mean compromising on licensing.

Running a Microsoft Windows NT server these days is a brave (or, perhaps, stupid) thing to do: Support for the product has finished, and as far as Microsoft is concerned, the product should be put in a rest home for retired software. Windows Server 2000 is also getting long in the tooth, and in a few years it too will reach the end of its support lifecycle and be looking for its rocking chair and slippers.

Neuros Audio's tiny Linux-based DVR (digital video recorder) has lots of potential, if community enthusiasm continues, according to a review at LinuxLookup.com. The "Open Source Device" (OSD) is already capable enough for users simply wishing to record or transcode TV for playback on hand-held devices, the reviewer says.

As 2006 winds to a close, the editors of LinuxDevices.com have assembled a retrospective aimed at highlighting major trends and events in the world of embedded Linux. Of the approximately 1,200 stories we published this year, these were the most important, in our opinion.

"There is no doubt in my mind, that ASP.NET is the most powerful and versatile platform for web applications at the moment."

[I am in the process of learning how to use ASP.NET at work, so far just getting the .NET framework downloaded and other dependent software in order to run it has been the challenge. I'll let you know how it goes - Scott]

The project team for Linux Mint, one of the first "customized" Ubuntu distributions, this week released its 2.1 version, featuring a 2.6.17 kernel, the GNOME desktop environment, and an expanded set of browser plugins and multimedia tools.